Elon Musk's Twitter activity and online influence helped sink a bipartisan spending bill to fund the government, highlighting his growing political power.
During the Army-Navy football game over the weekend, Elon Musk posted a photo of the giant screen perched over the field showing four faces in focus. In the background, looking down, was House Speaker Mike Johnson. Musk stands directly behind Trump and Vance, more prominently than the speaker (who is third in line to the presidency). On X (formerly Twitter), the phrase 'President Musk' began trending after Senator Bernie Sanders referenced it.
In this picture taken through a window, President-elect Donald Trump, from left, Trump's pick for the planned Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough) A few days later, Musk would make perhaps his most impactful flex of his newfound political power, helping to torpedo a spending bill put forth by Johnson with bipartisan support to fund the government and avoid a shutdown as soon as Friday evening. While some conservatives were already sceptical of the continuing resolution even before it was officially published, Musk and his co-Department of Government Efficiency leader Vivek Ramaswamy suddenly began blasting the bill online Wednesday, riling up their tens of millions of supporters with posts stoking outrage about its contents. 'This bill should not pass,' Musk wrote on X at 4:15 a.m. ET, kicking off what would become a blizzard of posts about the legislation. US President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, shown far right, tucks into a McDonald's meal aboard Trump's private jet. (Photo: Donald Trump Jr/ X) (Supplied) But Musk's unprecedented online influence seemed to fully torpedo the spending bill in a way no Republican lawmaker could have done from inside Capitol Hill. Those familiar with Washington know that such massive spending bills are often chock-full of add-ons in addition to necessary spending to keep the government open
ELON MUSK TWITTER SPENDING BILL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN POLITICS
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